A 'Straight-Jacket' for the White River: Flood Control Efforts in Downtown Indianapolis
I’ve never done a blog post focused just on the Great Flood of 1913. Part of this was because there are many existing sources which have covered that event, including this book by Nancy Germano, and because with the scope of the flood seems too massive to cover in a blog post or two. Perhaps a podcast episode would be in order. However, the 1913 flood is mentioned with some frequency in past blog posts, along with the 1904 and 1936 floods, in other, river (or Fall Creek) related posts.
But with the August 2026 flood now becoming a part of the city's history, I began to consider how such massive and traumatic events like that impact the city, and maybe the state in the long run. The 1913 flood, which saw its greatest impact in the city along the river’s western bank, in the West Indianapolis area, spurred significant changes in the city’s relationship with the White River. The months and years after the flood saw city and state leaders working together (a less common occurrence in the modern era) to fortify the city against future outbursts from Mother Nature. This took the form of what was dubbed the “Indianapolis Flood Prevention Bill.” The bill had been drafted by Mayor Joseph Bell, a Democrat, who had succeeded Lew Shanks as mayor not long after the 1913 flood, and the city’s corporation counsel. Per the Indianapolis Star, the purpose of the bill was to “provide a quick means of financing the levee work to be done along White River.”
The bill, Senate Bill 41, was presented by State Senator Henry Harmon of Marion County. The News reported that "the terrible effects of the last great flood in Indianapolis were described by Senator Harmon who said he had been in the district which suffered. The people of the district needed immediate protection for their property and their lives." Of course, protection of businesses was also on his mind and Harmon also indicated flood protection was needed "[o]n account of factories being in the flood district, he [Harmon] said it was to the benefit of the whole city and county that the district should be protected."
The introduction of the bill stated as follows:
Be it enacted by the general assembly of the State of Indiana, That whenever the board of public works of any city of the first class, being cities of more than one hundred thousand population, according to the last preceding United States census, shall deem it to be for the general welfare of such city in protecting it from floods, that the construction of levees, dykes, the removal of obstructions and the dredging and control of any stream, the lengthening and reconstruction of any bridge or bridges thereover, the construction of walls, drains or other works, either as separate pieces of work or in conjunction with the building of a street or streets in such city, including the appropriation of land therefor is necessary, it shall adopt a resolution declaring the necessity for the same and shall direct the city civil engineer of said city to make the necessary surveys and to prepare plats, plans and specifications for the work.
For those wondering, at the time, only Indianapolis had a population of more than 100,000 as contemplated by the legislation, so the bill as written would only apply to the capitol city. The bill also allowed a tax levy and a bond issue to help pay for the work. The legislation passed easily in the Senate (40 to 0) and the House (72-10), although two no votes in the House of Representatives came from legislators who lived in Marion County. Both questioned the tax levy being too broad, since it would be imposed on all people in Indianapolis, including those who did not live along or close to the river.
With legislative approval in hand, and a plan for funding the project, things moved quickly on the levee system at the city level. On April 28, 1915, the Indianapolis Board of Public Works awarded the levee contract to Marsch-Cleary-White Company of Chicago. The value of the contract was $458,000. Anticipating an uproar about a Chicago firm working on a local project, members of the Board of Public Works stated that there would be provisions in the contract requiring the use of local labor.
The planned levee was limited in scope and focused on a section which would run along the west side of the river from 14th Street and Belmont on its northern end, about where the Emrichsville Dam was located, to the Belt Railway bridge over the river, which is a quarter of a mile north of Raymond Street. Total length of the work was about four miles.
The Indianapolis News reported that the levee was “planned to be of sufficient hight[sic] and strength to withstand any flood that might come capering down White River in the future.” The levees constructed under the bill would be built four feet over the high-water mark from the 1913 flood. The top of the levee was to host a roadway, which could become part of the city’s park and boulevard system, then under construction. Many of the boulevards constructed along waterways as part of this system incorporated flood control features as part of the project, and other levees, including along Fall Creek, were in process of being constructed.
The contract was signed in May, and subcontracts assigned. On June 21, the City Council approved a bond issue of $740,000 for the flood prevention project (the planned work on the east side of the river may have been included in this bond issue). Work began soon thereafter on July 1, when Mayor Bell threw a switch which triggered a steam shovel to dig out the first shovel of earth. “The west side of the city suffered most during the 1913 flood, hence the first flood protection work which was done under the 1915 law was along the west bank of the White River,” stated Bernard Jeup, the city’s longtime chief engineer in his 1915 report to the Board of Public Works.
Machinery also widened the river and dredged out its channel, in addition to constructing the large levees from the water level to a point above the highest point of the 1913 flood. The slideshow images below from the city engineer's 1915 report show various scenes of construction along the levee route. The second image shows the construction of the roadways planned for the top of the levee.
In addition to the earthen levee, the project also included the installation of reinforced concrete “rip rap,” or apron, on the river side of the levees. These were actually large slabs of concrete built from below the water line up to the top of the levee and were intended to armor the levee from damage by erosion due to flood waters. The image below is also from the city engineer's 1915 report, and shows the concrete armoring being installed as part of the levee project.
The image below was featured in a blog post about a series of historical photos of downtown bridges that I obtained from eBay. This image shows the concrete armoring on the westside of the river just upstream of the 10th Street bridge, and the current site of the Veterans Administration Hospital.
Additionally, the section of the river immediately above the Washington Street bridge would not have a traditional levee, but would be protected by a massive concrete wall, 33 feet high. This wall was constructed behind the street railway company's Washington Street barns and powerhouse. Today the site is occupied by the Indianapolis Zoo. This panoramic image from the Indiana Historical Society provides a good view of the wall from the east bank of the river. The photo is quite damaged, but if you zoom in, you can see quite a bit of detail of the flood plan.
South of Washington Street, it appears the concrete armoring was not continued, a somewhat odd decision considering this was the area where the worst flooding occurred in 1913 due to a break in the old levee. Instead of concrete, the levee was simply faced with dirt and plant growth. However, the armoring was restarted just upstream from the Belt Railway bridge but stopped at the bridge. The east side of the river also has the concrete armoring leading up to the Belt Railway Bridge, suggesting the concrete was intended to protect the approaches to that bridge.
The construction of the massive levee system would also change the grade of the roadways which crossed it, as well as adjacent lands. This in turn required the extension of bridges across the river, and lifting of some structures which were close to the levee. In some cases, buildings were placed atop new foundations to adjust to the difference in grade, and overall height due to the levee. Other properties were taken by the city and demolished. Approximately 400 properties received this treatment in order to accommodate the massive levees, which were 75 feet wide at their top.
The flood control efforts would not be limited to the west side of the river, although, since that side of the city had been hit so hard in 1913, the city made that the priority. Said Jeup “[t]he work which now under contract is only a part of the work which will be necessary to protect the city from floods.” He noted that additional dredging of the channel would be needed, and construction of levees and walls on the east side of the river, although these measures still needed approval by local and state authorities. The west side levee work was to be completed in the summer of 1916, but the project went long and was finished in 1917. Parades and celebrations were held by residents on the west side of river upon the project's completion.
Work for the east side of the river was delayed for several years, but efforts to protect that side of the river began in 1923. The city announced plans for levee and wall work on the east side of the river in order to put the White River into a "straight-jacket" which was to be "an unfailing device for quelling outbreaks, will be tied on to the river where it flows through Indianapolis." Work was also to be done along Fall Creek and at its confluence with the river. The newspaper clipping below announced the plans for the project. However, a number of delays hindered the project, and the project was not commenced until the late 1930s. No concrete armoring ("rip rap") appears to have been used on the east side of the river, although a long-walled section was constructed to mirror the section on the west side of the river.
The levee and wall system on both sides of the river are still in place today. The first two photos below show the levee on the west side of the river from New York Street looking downstream towards the Indianapolis Zoo. The third photo is taken from just upstream of the Michigan Street bridge.
Sharp eyed readers may note one detail: the concrete rip rap, or armoring, on the face of the west side levee is no longer in place along most sections of the levee. In many places the concrete was removed and replaced with grass as part of project in the early 2000s to make the area along the river more park-like. This included the grassy areas (and the short wall at the bottom along the river visible in the images above) and installation of trails and landscaping adjacent to the roadway at the top of the levee. The aerial image below is from 2003 and shows the transition from the old concrete armoring to the new landscaped levee. Michigan Street is at the top.
Sections of the concrete armoring is still in place on a short section north of the Belt Railway Bridge, a quarter mile north of Raymond Street, and north of 10th Street up to the site of the Emrichsville Dam, where the levee was begun. The photos below show this concrete sections adjacent to the Belmont Beach parking lot. Much of this section down to 10th Street is grown over with vegetation, which has forced its way up through cracks and broken sections of the concrete.
The walled sections of the river, which were located in the area of the Washington Street bridge, are also still in place. The images below show the wall adjacent to the Indianapolis Zoo, including the wall's connection with the levee on the northside of the zoo.
Additionally, the city memorialized the project with a series of plaques installed along the route. The first of these (which I actually spotted while on an after work run a few years ago) is located at the west end of the New York Street bridge as shown below, Note the smaller plaque added to the boulder which recognizes the beautification project in the early 2000s.
After seeing this plaque, I realized I had seen it before, at the west end of the old Washington Street bridge which connects the Indianapolis Zoo with the eastern side of White River State Park. That plaque is shown on the left below, although it looks like the one above was painted at some point. Another plaque is located on the north end of Belmont Beach, just south of 16th Street, on the north end of the levee project (right image, below). I've searched for a marker on the south end of the levee, but thus far have not located one. If one exists, it would likely be between Kentucky Avenue and the Belt Railway bridge. I have not seen similar plaques on the east side of the river.
The levees constructed in 1915-1917 were not completely effective at first. In 1916, a high-water event caused significant damage to the new levee system in areas where the concrete armoring was not yet in place. Without the concrete, the newly built earthen levee was not yet solid enough to withstand the flood waters. The August 2026 flood reached 20 feet in height at the Raymond Street bridge on the southside of downtown Indianapolis, and the levees and walls through downtown, which in some cases were constructed over 100 years ago, easily shrugged off those flood waters, and protected the downtown area.
Sources
Indianapolis Star: December 8, 1914, February 27, 1915, January 28, 1923, August 20, 1999
Indianapolis News: October 10, 1913, October 13, 1913, January 15, 1915, February 5, 1915, February 27, 1915, April 26, 1915, January 31, 1916, September 10, 1917, March 12, 1924
Annual message of the Mayor of Indianapolis, 1915, Indianapolis Public Library Digital Indy, https://www.digitalindy.org/digital/collection/IH/id/20852/rec/24
Annual message of the mayor of Indianapolis, 1914, Indianapolis Public Library Digital Indy, https://www.digitalindy.org/digital/collection/IH/id/16529/rec/10
Indianapolis Dept. of Parks and Recreation Landscape Architectural Drawings, Ball State University, https://dmr.bsu.edu/digital/collection/IndplsPDArc
Laws of the State of Indiana (1915), https://iga.in.gov/publications/act/archive/1915-EO.pdf
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